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Sunshine Relish

A sweet relish made from crab apples, raisins, tomatoes, onions, peppers, and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 17 ingredients
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Why it works: Clove and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

Sunshine Relish

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the fruit

  1. Quarter, core, and cut each quarter of six pounds crab apples in half.

Make the relish

  1. Combine six pounds sugar, two pounds raisins, two chopped oranges, one pint vinegar, one teaspoonful cloves, three teaspoonfuls cloves, and three teaspoonfuls cinnamon.

  2. Let the mixture boil.

  3. Add eight quarts ripe tomatoes, six large onions, two cups chopped celery, three red peppers, one pound brown sugar, one quart vinegar, two ounces mustard seed, one ounce ground cinnamon, and one cup salt, and boil for twenty minutes.

Chop and mix

  1. Chop eight quarts ripe tomatoes and drain through a colander.

  2. Chop six large onions, two cups chopped celery, and three red peppers.

  3. Mix all chopped vegetables with one pound brown sugar, one quart vinegar, two ounces mustard seed, one ounce ground cinnamon, and one cup salt.

  4. Do not cook the mixture.

Jar

  1. Put the relish in fruit jars.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

458Calories
29 gProtein
2 gFat
89 gCarbs

Counts 13 of 14 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 13 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Shrimp100g cooked99
Apple1 medium (182g)95
Grape1/2 cup (76g)62
Orange1 medium (131g)62
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Tomato1 medium (123g)22
Clove1 tsp ground (2g)7
Cinnamon1 tsp ground (2.6g)6
Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Vinegar1 tbsp (15ml) distilled3
Mustard1 tsp (5g) yellow3
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Seednot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures. See the original page.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Clove + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  2. Raisin + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,390 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

  3. Apple + cinnamontop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,598 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).

  4. Apple + clovetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,774 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  5. Raisin + clovetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,070 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Crab apples
Provide pectin and tartness that help the relish thicken and taste bright.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and, in quantity, helps preserve the relish.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that sharpens flavour and helps preserve the relish.
Ripe tomatoes
Supply bulk and moisture that cook down into the body of the relish.
Onions
Add savoury aroma and depth to the relish.
Raisins
Add concentrated sweetness and a chewy texture.

The step that matters

Boiling for twenty minutes after adding the tomatoes, onions and sugar. A thick, sugar-rich mixture can scorch and stick as it boils. As water evaporates, sugar and vinegar concentrate, which gives the relish its body and preserving strength.

Swap the tomato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (crab, apple, sugar, raisin, vinegar, clove, cinnamon):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Mustardfits better
  3. Beetrootfits better
  4. Tomatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against crab, apple, sugar, raisin, vinegar, clove, cinnamon. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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